revivalproject | [Open] The Daring, Dashing, And Dating

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[Open] The Daring, Dashing, And Dating

WHO: Gladiolus, Noctis, Any Starduck Crew (or visitors), Open
WHERE: Starduck, Ul'Dah, Limsa Lominsa, Gold Saucer, Costa del Sol Dungeon
WHAT: Shipboard Times, Questions, Gladitorial Work, Dungeon Crawl, and Dating
WHEN: During Event, from June 17th - August 10th
WARNINGS: Violence/Injuries Possible in the Dungeon Crawl
NOTES: Unless otherwise noted, assume Gladio is dressed Like This on the planet

1A - A New Star | Starduck | [Crewmates Only]

Turned out that flying a ship in atmo and in space were not quite the same. Gladio may have had some practice at the former, but fuck, the latter wasn't easy. He grit his teeth as he focused on the whole thing. After a thought he flips a switch and speaks, hoping the PA system really does work.

"This is your Captain. Feel free to come on up to get a fucking view of a glowing hole in space. And some planet with it I guess. Anyone got any Ifrit-Damned clue what's going on here? Come up to the cockpit and explain shit."

1B - Captain With The Ship | Starduck | [OTA, visitors from other ships welcome to fly over]

No one could be on the planet all of the time. Okay, maybe they could, and go and spend their money on nice restaurants or plush inns, but not Gladio. No, he had other things he should be doing, and honestly, he felt safer bunking down on the Starduck. So in the evenings it was always a touch to a crystal and being whisked back onto his ship. Once there Gladio groaned and started to shed his gear right there in the hold. Simple enough to tuck it all back into his chest and then dress in his normal gear.

"Nice place, like to visit. Fuck I wouldn't wanna stay."

He wasn't used to people being that much larger and stronger than him. The Hrothgar were getting to him.

"Time to chill.

2 - King of the Ring | Ul'Dah Coliseum | [OTA]

They had him at 'battle monsters for a purse of money'. Gladio was a monster hunting machine back home, and he was more than happy to prove it here. Granted he wouldn't be able to change his weapons on the fly in the battle, but he still didn't mind. He's doing great.

It's easy to run into him here. Gladio's often in the back prep areas, stretching and doing warm up exercises, eyes sparkling with excitement. Any might approach him then as he warmed up for a nice round of monster fighting. Of course there was always the chance that someone might want to set up a nice little spot of one on one competition, may the winner take the spoils. All it would take is someone approaching him to start a conversation for that.

But a guy couldn't be fighting all the time. And after fights even Gladio found himself up in the stands, stretched out and catching his breath as he watched the action. Maybe he might not linger as long, but hey, it was nice to see who all was a good fighter, right?

3 - Stocking Up For Later | Limsa Lominsa Markets | [OTA]

It felt it had been so damn long since Gladio had been in a bustling port down, since he could see the sun on the water and in the sky and on the beach and not see ruins along with it all. It was... Fuck, it was one of the most beautiful things ever. And so he didn't mind coming back here time and time again. First he kept stopping in to check up on Noctis (fishing, predictably). Then he moved on to gather quests for the day, intending to head out to do what he could to build up gold, earn rumors, and go seeking the secrets the Agrii needed.

He spent a lot of time moving between shops to pick up potions and other supplies, and of course he popped in and out of other ones to look over weapons and armor. But in the end the thing that gave him the most pause was any time he caught sight of someone he recognized from Temba.

"Hey! Over here!" he shouted, waving. Better to let them know he was around, and swap intel. Had to know what was going on, right? They were all in this together.

4 - Old Hand At Dungeons | Costa del Sol Dungeon | [One Thread Tony & Jon, OTA one on one otherwise]

Seek Rats, huh? Well, if Gladio knew anything, rats and all that sorta shit were in underground caves. Sure, they were other places too, but who was he to judge? Besides, they probably meant secrets, and from Gladio's experience, some of the deepest and most important secrets of his own world were in fucking caves. Sure there were daemons there too, but they'd found answers to stop the will of Bahamut in caves like this.

So, once he'd heard the cave was a thing, that it was new, well, it seemed like a place to go searching. Gladio's earlier meeting with Tony had brought him to the decision of working with others for this, and once he was pretty sure they were sufficiently geared up, he'd boarded a boat, and gone with Tony to find the entrance to the cave.

"Alright," he said, eyes casting about to make sure there was no one around before using Tony and Jon as cover to summon his sword to his hand. Better safe than sorry. "Time to go in. Your job is to stay back and be my eyes, and solve any puzzles. Keep a mental map of where we're going. And if you feel confident fighting, join in. Just make sure you get back if I order you to, okay?"

He was the experienced on in this after all.

Of course Tony and Jon weren't the only ones he went in with either. Gladio was always happy to go through places extra times, because honestly it was easier to do a thing multiple times. And hey, he was making good money from hunting these monster parts. So he didn't mind clearing the beach while he waited for additional partners to go dungeoning with. In fact, he thought he had caught sight of someone right now. Gladio stood a little taller, leaning his giant sword against his shoulder, and he nodded.

"Yo. You looking to head in? Could use another set of hands."

5 - Charm Goes Arm In Arm | Gold Saucer | [Closed to Noctis]

It had taken a week and a half before Gladio had finished the plan. He'd told Noctis he had an idea, that he'd let the guy know when it was ready. Seeing as they shared a ship, he could keep Noctis appraised at night if Noctis came back to the ship to sleep. Six knew that Gladio sure slept on the ship, liking how safe and secure it felt. And the night before Gladio had asked Noctis to make sure to reserve the day for him.

All the time had been investing in building up the Gil for this. With a heavy pouch filled with the money he'd need for the planned evening, he had awoken, dressed in an outfit he'd gotten expressly for the day, and then he had awoken Noctis. Once he had his King up and moving he guided Noctis to the crystal, and then through it, dropping them in the entrance of the Gold Saucer.

"Alright," he said, smiling as he held his hand to Noctis, "today is for us. I've got a lot of ideas, and some set plans. But you're welcome to overrule stuff."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"So he just gets himself in trouble and lives with it?"

Geeze that sounds about right for someone like Tony. Still, he rolls his eyes at Tony's question.

"Haven't been to the caves, but yeah, I'm sure were should be here. With all the rumors, this place seems like a good place to investigate. And I can do it alone if you two aren't comfortable."

"No, no crystals yet..." Tony muttered, not looking convinced that they shouldn't be concerned about the possibility. Having their own powers go haywire and turn against them would explain why this 'dungeon' seemed to be such a high risk to the locals gossiping about it, and Tony was sure he knew that particular bend over there, having paced it multiple times looking for his helmet, then several iterations of an attempt to block the surge. Nothing had worked yet. His reach for Jon was supposed to be subtle, but the metal of his gloves rattled and sang against the hardware all over him, so a pluck at his waist became a ringing chime that bounced down the cave walls.

"It's not--I just don't want to see where all of your weapons suddenly come from when you're not expecting them," Tony insisted, frowning with offence that he was the one to worry about here. He knew exactly what happened when his equipment failed, because he wasn't magical. "This is definitely the right place," he did have to agree, casting a look up like he might see something more concretely familiar on the ceiling above them, then down the nearest hall. "It's like--Maybe the erosion is different--..." Weirder things had happened, but it definitely didn't sound like a sane claim to make, so he looked to Jon with a grimace for support.

The little tug is enough to keep Jon from rushing ahead and instead turn his attention to Tony as he man speaks. As much as he disliked the fact, Jon hasn't really been exploring the caves on Agra-10 himself. He had tried to go in a few times, but never had gotten as far as he would have liked given that he might stumble into any of these crystals around any corner. He hasn't been too keen on experiencing their effect after having been back to his world and returned, either. Though he has heard that there are supposedly some hot springs somewhere within these caves, which indicates that some people at least seem to be quite capable of navigating them... Hence he wants to try again. Maybe even test himself against these crystals again, who knows?

But these are considerations for when they are back on Agra-10. Right now they are here. And Tony is being cryptic. "Tony... What are you not telling us? I'm not going to read your mind, so please tell us what you're noticing."

By all means, reach for Jon. Gladio doesn't care. In fact, with Tony moving so that he can get a hold of Jon, Gladio can take the chance to step ahead of them as a proper protector should do.

"Don't know why you're worried about my weapons," Gladio said. He hadn't experienced the power amplification in the caves back on Agra-10 before. "They come when I call them and only then."

Except when it was restrained. Still, he's looking closer at the walls, not that he's good at figuring rock formations.

"Definitely not a telepath, Tony. What's going on?"

There was no way for Tony to explain what could happen, because he didn't actually know. Something would go wrong; Jon would start bleeding from his face, or Cal would pass out, and maybe that was just because their powers were literally in their heads, whole new thoughts. Tony took a breath and let it out in a frustrated huff, glaring at Gladio's back, then at Jon for not intuiting the problem. It was starting to feel crazier the more frustrated they were with him.

"Look, here--" he had to release Jon and skip a few steps to catch back up with Gladio, reaching for his shoulder like he would pull him back to take the lead again, only to put the other hand to the wall. "In the caves, back on the beach, you follow this bend around and then there's a split around a big formation in the middle that doesn't quite reach the top." He let Gladio go, to see for himself if Tony was the psychic one now. "I don't know--Maybe if I could do a flyover, I'd be able to see more, if the landscape was more familiar--" He didn't know how to explain this deja vu, except maybe that they hadn't travelled through space at all.

"Are you saying these are the same caves as the one back on Agra-10?" Jon inquires from behind the other two, slowly following. It would make sense that Tony knows the caves better than hm. His armor gets affected by the crystals, but he doesn't get an overload like Jon had gotten when they had gone to investigate.

He lets out an exhale, then casts a frown towards Gladio. "It's... Bad. In the caves near the beach. I... I believe it's only certain areas in them, but something in there messes with your powers. Dials them up to eleven and takes away any control you have over them."

That's an interesting suggestion, and Gladio shoots Jon a look as if to say 'you buying this? Which, apparently, Jon is. With a sigh he shoulders his blade and goes around the bend. And... well fuck.

"He's right," Gladio calls back. "About how he describes it. But there's these little insect looking things too, coming right for me now. Stay back, I'll take them out."

"That part is new," Tony was willing to admit, like Gladio's description had simply been another remarkable feature of the caves that Tony had to consider with a thoughtful tap to his chin. Despite the little insect looking things, he didn't think he had to further prove his point, just cast a wide-eyed glance at Jon to assure him that he understood Tony's concern now, and if he was crazy, then they were at least crazy together. That could be dealt with after the insects.

"Please don't be cockroaches..." Of course Tony wasn't going to stay back, Gladio should have figured that system out by now, so he came muttering to himself around the bend as well only to be struck with regret, "Aw, gross." He did take a couple of steps back then, the heavy thud of his boots stopping behind Gladio's shoulder, his arms tense at his sides with his palms readied open.

Of course Jon's buying this. He can read Tony well enough to recognize the man's tension and that this isn't an occasion were he is joking. He doesn't even need to read Tony's fear to know that.

Neither does he need to read anything to know Tony wouldn't be standing back, but Jon isn't a fighter , so he approaches the bend, yet doesn't step around. He can hear the scuttling of legs well enough as it is. He'll be available to offer backup, however?

Not cockroaches. Some sort of scarab beetles, about the size of dogs. So yes, gross. Super gross. Gladio holds his blade before him.

"STand back unless you're equipped to fight," Gladio instructed Tony before throwing himself forward to swing at one of the creatures.

Now Gladio was trying to provoke Tony into punching a big bug. Of course he was equipped, he was always equipped--even if he wrinkled his nose at the squelch of Gladio's sword connecting with one of the creatures and splattering the cave floor. No wonder no on else wanted to hang out in here.

They weren't just swarming, either, Tony realized a step too late. What looked like a surge was a tactical flank as several scuttled up the wall, one clinging to the ceiling over Gladio's head. With a quick motion, Tony braced one hand to aim up at the beetles climbing the walls, and shoved them back into Gladio's line of sight with a blast of heat from his palm.

They were flung back from their flank, dropping into the fray and confusing the bugs still on the floor, and Tony took another step back to shake out his tender hand, still holding his wrist. Maybe some testing would have been helpful.

Jon doesn't consider himself to be equipped to fight, but he doesn't want to stand by uselessly, either. He stands back, however, but draws his rapier at least, ready to... Stab? Slice? Swing? Well, whatever. He is ready to use this weapon he has however to not be in the way or become a liability.

He takes a cautious step around the bend at last and sees Gladio engaging the large bugs with his sword and Tony using what can only be a new device he fashioned while on this very planet to do some crowd control of the swarm. But the action also leaves the man temporarily focused on his hand, dealing with what may be some side effect of using the new device, yet also leaving him open to a new group of beetles approaching from the other side. "Tony, careful!"

Seriously, how the fuck did Tony do that. Gladio spared a glance toward Tony, but not the longest one. There were other things going on after all. And now Jon was closer too, and that was a mess. The guy could get hurt.

"Shit Stark, what the fuck was that? You know what, just keep up at it."

With that said he moves another step forward and does a wide, arcing swing that cut across most of the tunnel. This was a mess.

"Guessing you two don't face beasts often."

Jon's warning came just in time for Tony to jerk around, then brace an armored arm up for the beetle barrelling toward him to clamp its horrible mouth around. Tony tried to haul back, expecting to be able to lift this thing easily enough, only for it to wrench him viciously the other way, digging its awful feet into the ground. "Yeah, can't do that one too much, refractory period, you know, honestly, it makes it more special when it does happen..." he grumbled as he found his footing enough to bring his free elbow down on the bug's head with a grunt. Even with the sharp edges fracturing the beetle's hard shell, it was unwilling to let go, until Tony snarled and jammed his hand under the armor of his trapped arm and rapidly turned his face away from the pressure release of steam that burst out of it. That had the creature gargling in surprise as its throat melted, which finally took priority and let Tony go stumbling back toward Jon.

"Little out of practice," he had to admit to Gladio, who didn't seem to be struggling nearly as much with a lot more bugs.

"Never had to." Jon replies with a notable scowl while Gladio's sword made quick word of some of the large insects. "Never wanted to, either. And I wouldn't have supported anyone's idea to fight the animals kept in the zoo."

He takes half a step back again while Tony struggles with the beetle, but then back forward in case Tony requires assistance. He has made enough excuses for his inability to actually fight. "And even if you are facing such creatures often, there's no need to be reckless!" This counts for both the other men.

Yeah, sure it's a serious situation, but Gladio snorted in amusement at the joke.

"That's what you tell all the girls isn't it? There's pills for that," he laughed as he rammed his weapon through the creature Tony had damaged, just in case. A creature dealt a mortal blow could still kill you before the blow took hold. Then he swung the sword like a bat to knock another out of the air that was about to fall toward Tony and Jon.

"These are nothing. They aren't even as fast as a Ereshkiga, and definitely have nothing on a Skarnbulette," he chuckled as he booted another away with his foot. "Literally been doing this all my life."

Gladio's stab had Tony recoiling with his arm half raised again, like he expected to be splattered and took that about as well as being bitten. With the other hand, he pointed to Gladio like he had a strongly worded defence prepared for his salacious accusation, only to insist, "Girls don't have to know anything about it if you're doing it right." He gave another flinch at Gladio's kick, lip raised as if to say, no, that's not doing it right.

He turned that expression on Jon, though, eyebrows raised incredulously, even more so as Gladio seemed to think the logical defence here was to speak in tongues. Their level of experience was not actually the notable argument here. "You came in here alone," Tony pointed out, eyes wide to dare Jon to try to make any further claims about anyone's recklessness.

Jon crosses his arms in stubborn defiance. "I left once I noticed that I couldn't just-" He lets his words hang and uses one hand to gesture towards the beetles. His lips set into a pout. "I followed a lead." They were sent here to investigate, so Jon did some investigating.

At least from the looks of it, their battle experienced companion doesn't really need any of their help. Though throwing unfamiliar names at them seems... Rude. Jon lets out a small huff. "...and they don't exactly smile like a quokka, either."

"Strangely, of the three of us, I'm starting to think I'm the only one that should be in here solo if it came to it," Gladio teased. But he's grinning at Tony for his snark in response.

"Gotta tell me about a quokka smile. Sounds like it might be adorable."

Because Gladio was certain the only thing he didn't smile was adorably.

"Come on, let's keep going," he says as one last slash takes down the final beetle. "I'm not feeling like harvesting from these things."

In the symphony of cracking and splattering of bug guts, Tony stared back at Jon's pout, impatient hand on his hip and eyebrows raised to ask if that was the best defence Jon had. Right, so they all agreed no one was calling anyone else reckless in here.

"You're going to set him off again," Tony said, wagging a finger to deter Gladio from going into any further detail about his solo mission before they got into an argument over it and Jon fell in love in the impossible bug cavern. Lingering here only made that a looming threat, so Tony was more than happy to go stomping ahead again before Gladio had finished his suggestion. It was belatedly, after he had decided on their direction and when it didn't seem like he was at risk of stepping on another carcass, that he shuddered and threw a look of disbelief over his shoulder at 'harvesting'.

Opting to ignore Gladio's teasing, Jon follows after Tony with a stubborn set of his jaw and no word of his own. If the guy wants to go by himself, Jon won't stop him - Or apparently waste any more of his time. He isn't that defenseless if he has to be, thank you very much.

"Alright." He addresses Tony. "So if we assume the layout of these caves is the same, where might we- Well. Find... Whatever it is we are looking for?" This little detail still remains a bit of a mystery.

Dude's not even teasing.

"Wait, you're not going to tell me about quokkas?" he asks, confused as he moves with the two. Come on, dude, tell him about the cute things! He wants to be able to tell his sister about them later, when he one day goes home.

"And I don't know what we're looking for. If this is like those caves, Tony, maybe you know where something important would be then."

It was entirely possible that Jon was admirably focused on the more important task at hand, but Tony was left staring at him again, then swinging back around to Gladio who carried on as normal, and raising his hands with the weighty question left between them. To Jon, he said, "We're not going to ask him about the 'harvesting'. We're just going to let that go. Okay," and then more generally, down the tunnel that he lead them, "We haven't had a great chance to get to know each other on this mission, bit of a time crunch, so I think it's a great time to share something important about ourselves. I'll go first: none of my organs would be very valuable. I hardly want them, honestly, it's a miracle some of them haven't fallen out."

While he hadn't answered either of them, he had been strutting purposely deeper into the cave, his illustrative hands waving their eerie glow in the dark, until he drew them to the mouth of an echoing cavern. A distant drip danced around the walls, revealing the expanse of it, and where the sound deadened as it was swallowed by branching paths. "Depends on what we think we're hoping to find," he finally addressed. "That way," he gestured, "would take us to the hot springs. I'm not against it, personally, taking a load of, relaxing, you know..." He cleared his throat, glowing palms going dark briefly as he clenched his hands, already sensing Jon was not in the mood for this kind of proposition. "This way, the crystals start showing up, it's about fifty feet in before they're getting noticeably concentrated," he finished more seriously. "If I had to guess, that's where anything weird is going to be localized."

Jon has no intention of giving any quokka lectures today, bu he considers Tony's answer and looks down the path that is said to lead to the hot springs, mentally layering the layout of this cave with the one back on Agra 10. He doesn't remember this branching arm from when he was in the cave. Did he simply not see it or has he been too focused on finding the spot Cal has spoken of he couldn't say. But he will have to take a look when they are all back.

But for now their direction seems clear and Jon turns towards where there may or may not be further crystals. "Then this is the way we want to investigate." Maybe the crystals on Agra 10 were inspired from similar ones over here. And if they weren't... Well. That's another little detail to take notice. More importantly: No crystals would mean that they can get deeper into these caves, potentially learning more about the ones back on Agra 10.

"You two are acting a bit weird," Gladio sighed as he moved with them. Seriously, he didn't get it. Here he is, a nice, social sorta guy that just helped protect them from giant bugs.

Oh well, can't please all of the people all of the time. Especially since in a way he feels like he's interrupting the weirdest date ever?

"Alright then, so why are these crystals a problem? You mentioned them earlier."

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